Charles Manson did a lot of horrible things during his lifetime, but when he passed away, his victim's sister still said a prayer for his soul.
Debra Tate, the sister of his murder victim Sharon Tate, told PEOPLE that she asked God to forgive Manson for what he did. "I said a prayer for his soul," Tate said of the moment she learned of his death.
Manson, a cult leader, served a life sentence after he killed seven people in a two-day bloody rampage together with his "family" members Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten and the now-deceased Susan Atkins. He died of natural causes last Sunday at a Kern County Hospital at 8:13 p.m. He was 83, according to CNN.
Tate was eight and a half months pregnant when she was stabbed to death by Manson and his companions at her hilltop home in Benedict Canyon on August 9, 1969. Their other victims that night included Jay Sebring, 35; Voytek Frykowski, 32; Abigail Folger, 25; and Steven Parent, 18. The next night, Manson and his followers went to the Los Feliz home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Three members were tasked to kill the couple.
As painful as those memories were, Tate said her faith in God helped her forgive. When Atkins died from cancer in 2009, she also said a prayer for her soul. "My cross in my bedroom still has the flowers that I slipped into Jesus's feet when Susan died," she said. "I cried a tear and I asked for forgiveness on her soul. I'll do the same thing when Charlie dies."
"Each one of these people and myself now have are spirits or our wills are slightly entangled," she added.
But even though God will be responsible for their souls after they die, Tate said the "sociopaths" have to remain in prison for life. "I sit across from these monsters many times a year, and I know very clearly they're still capable of heinous acts. For that reason, I've dedicated myself to seeing they stay right where they are until they draw their last breath," Tate told the New York Daily News. "So they can't hurt anyone else."
At the same time, Tate said it is natural to feel hate for them because of what they did. But she has learned to process this hate into something else. "I've processed through all of my hate for him. Hate isn't health. It won't bring my sister back," she said. "One could say I've forgiven him, but there's a difference between forgiving and forgetting."
